I'd forgotten they were there."
"How much for the lot?" said Mrs. Brandeis, pleasantly, for
the third time.
"I really don't know. Three hundred, I should say.
But----"
"I'll give you two hundred," ventured Mrs. Brandeis, her
heart in her mouth and her mouth very firm.
"Oh, come now, Mrs. Brandeis! Bauder & Peck don't do
business that way, you know. We'd really rather not sell
them at all. The things aren't worth much to us, or to you,
for that matter. But three hundred----"
"Two hundred," repeated Mrs. Brandeis, "or I cancel my
order, including the Limoges. I want those figures."
And she got them. Which isn't the point of the story. The
holy figures were fine examples of foreign workmanship,
their colors, beneath the coating of dust, as brilliant and
fadeless as those found in the churches of Europe. They
reached Winnebago duly, packed in straw and paper, still
dusty and shelf-worn. Mrs. Brandeis and Sadie and Pearl sat
on up-ended boxes at the rear of the store, in the big barn-
like room in which newly arrived goods were unpacked.
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